


Chapter 7 (Part 1)

by Adge



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 14:49:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21272969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adge/pseuds/Adge





	Chapter 7 (Part 1)

**Chapter 7 (Part 1)**

Copenhagen, kingstead and seagate  
Of the royal Danes, by rash-taint shent  
To a troll haunting, yet treasure holds  
In the dripping steads of the stink-brooks  
And slime-clad ruins, rotting witnesses  
In streets time-felled. Strays kin-bonded -  
Cat guard-mother and kitten unweaned -  
In a hole woning - a haven safe  
From corrupted beasts and roaming foes -  
In a long-shent school. But the lore-seekers  
Camped not far off, cat-tank and bodies  
Wash from rash-taint, for work preparing  
Sigrun and Emil, their sye that school,  
That wet, decayed, weather-ruined shell  
Of the cats' dwelling, ken-hoards seeking  
And riches unguessed. Reynir, callow-lad,  
Yearning to be held a useful wight  
To the group members, grasps the moment:  
Tuuri skald-maid for tasks he begs,  
Pesters for work, as she pores over  
The reft volumes; riled and cunning  
She inveigles the lad into leaving the van  
And locks the door. His lesson grasped,  
In cold sadness callow Reynir,  
Mood-fallen lad, by Mikkel blamed  
For risking taint of the rash sickness,  
Is told to sleep, for tene are dreams  
In the Silent World. Sad-hearted Reynir  
Denies dreaming, but knowing Mikkel  
Suades him all sleep with swevens is weft  
Forgot at dawn. So good Reynir  
His bed cosies to a better mood.  
But the reiving pair a rough way trace  
To the derelict school, doors and windows  
Jammed with creepers and junk tumbled  
From ceils and floors. Sigrun, wise-eyed,  
Hard-handed thegn, to thump a hole  
In the door offers, but Emil unfettled,  
Eager to shine, a shoulder hurls  
At the flimsy door - the floor halts him  
On the shent panel. Unsure in schools  
Sigrun war-maid assistance asks  
Of her grounded thegn where the gradely reif  
Likely is kept. Reluctant, Emil  
Queries how safe is seeking wide  
In an unkenned holt; canny troll-hunter  
Sigrun sword-wise safety proclaims;  
In so crap a stead creatures rash-marred  
No protection find. So the two search  
And unshroud a hoard, shelves of goodies:  
Books for the skalds, and boxed plastic  
Iridescent discs, that Emil kens  
And clepes 'gramophones', clapping for delight  
At the perfect find. But pattering hoofs  
Of running deer interrupt scanning –  
The band are smit with beast terrors.  
Callow Emil cocks his weapon  
But Sigrun wise, war-fettled maid,  
His aim counters, the eyes of the deer  
Unwemmed, taintless, well reveals them  
Untouched by rash - then turns again  
To see the meat safe to dine on  
But late her thought as the leapers weave  
A quick escape. Quiet in wain-home  
Reynir dreaming drifts as a mage  
To the waters cold, waking in sweven  
On a skiff resting in the scaup's playground,  
The main's fringes, mid frozen shores  
And rocks iceclad. But a rogue visitor,  
A doglike beast, doomed by the rash,  
Climbs the gunwale of the galder-boat,  
The mage-sea scow, scaring Reynir  
Out of the wherry to the whale’s domain,  
To the fearful deeps. Yet forth he wends  
As the seal-realm's skin, unscathed by his heels  
Bears Reynir's weight, well supporting  
The mage dreamer. Merry he hirples  
To the realm-shore, to the rock-gated path  
Closing the sea-road. Clambering in  
Reynir herd-mage his hound welcomes,  
His fylgja greets, fondling, cuddling,  
Watched by the sheep on the way forward  
On the path unsought to a portal dern  
Where shadows hint at a shore unknown  
To Reynir's feet. Redeless, searching,  
The sheep-lad threads the gateway's throat.  
His way takes him to a water land  
Willow-clad meres, that wading feet  
Can pass wet-shod to a pool of quiet,  
A water-holt, wound with a board-path.  
There wise-eyed scout work-tired Lalli  
Rests in slumber on a raft of planks.  
Callow Reynir, courtesy lacking,  
Wakens Lalli, welcome expecting,  
Wrath answers him - roots and branches  
Erupt from the pool and wrap the noita.  
In an osier holt hiding from Reynir –  
Lalli night-scout lurks in safety  
While Reynir stunned reels from his anger  
Lost in rejection, his lesson grasped,  
In cold sorrow callow Reynir,  
Mood-fallen lad, the mere crosses,  
Wandering lost till a wall hits him  
And Onni’s face - ominous vision –  
Looms in anger and lugs Reynir  
Through the barrier, misthinking the lad,  
Callow, harmless, for a kade ill-willed,  
To condemn swiftly to the dark beyond -  
A fate merciless. But the feckless boy,  
Reynir, startled, recognises  
The face, treasured in a photo seen  
In a sister's charge; he softs Onni,  
Protective mage, of Tuuri speaks  
Reassuring words of a shaping team  
And a sister skald safe as can be  
And happy in face, but hiraeth’s blain  
May lurk within. Lalli mage-scout  
Onni’s dream-realm entry granted  
Denies fellowship with novice Reynir  
Mannerless boy, mage untested,  
Frommed stowaway, friendless weakling,  
Defenceless seidh. But fearful sib  
Canny Onni a cautious word  
On his tongue framed, a tactful speech  
Not unwelcoming to a new mage,  
Seidh-guardian for a sister far  
From a brother's care. Callow Reynir  
Newness-fearful fades to waking  
As cousin-mages recount their news  
Acknowledging their need for links  
Through the mundane and the mage worlds  
That sele Reynir, seidhkarl clumsy  
Should not be asked to open for them  
For fear of It that for Onni noita  
And scout Lalli scans incessantly,  
Their only holt Onni’s mage-realm  
Where Lalli scout his lair downsets  
Safe till waking. Settled, Onni  
Frains his cousin if friends he's found.


End file.
